33. Ayah Bdeir

Ayah Bdeir was 12 when her dad signed her up for programming lessons. The only problem: "I wanted to be an architect," she says. Today, Bdeir has merged the two disciplines and created little­Bits, Lego sets for the 21st century that let tinkerers build their own electronics. Her neon-hued components snap together magnetically to form circuit boards, making it easy—and, more important, fun!—to construct anything from a remote-control car to an alarm clock to a talking puppet. LittleBits has caught on in the art and design worlds—this spring, New York’s Museum of Modern Art stores featured an installation of littleBits creations—and Bdeir envisions her kits as tools for proto­typing real products. "Everyone is creative," she says, "and everyone is a techie."